Citrus fruit juicing machine



Sept. 7, 1943. R. R. SMITH CITRUS FRUIT JUICING MACHINE Filed June 1?-,1942 F'J'L. l.

3 Sheets-Sheet l Sept. 7, 1943. R. R. SMITH 2,329,091

n CITRUS FRUIT JUICING MACHINE Filed June 17, 1942 l 5 Sheets-Sheet 12kSePf- 7, 1943- l R. R. SMITH 2,329,091

CITRUS FRUIT JUICING MACHINE l Filed June 1'7, 1942 .'5 Sheets-Sheet 3INVENTOR. yABSLv'O/VR. SN/ TH Patented Sept. 7, 14943 UNITED STATES PATEOFFICE 7 Claims.

This invention .relates generally to the extracting of juices fromcitrus fruits, and particularly pertains to certain improvements onafruit extracting-apparatus disclosed in my United States Letters PatentNo. 2,274,306.

It is the principal object of my present invention to provide animproved apparatus for efflciently extracting the juice fromy citrusfruit with a minimum degree of aeration and with a minimum contaminationthereof with undesirable constituents present in the rind and in thetissues surrounding the .juice cells or sacs, which-machine is automaticin operation and requires no human labor to supplement its function.

In practicing my invention, I provide a novel and improved form ofgripping mechanism for receiving a fruit, which gripping mechanismconstitutes a contractile chuck for tightly gripping the fruit andsuccessively moving it to va, slicing4 and then a reaming station, atwhich points the slicing and reaming functions are performed, and thendischarging the reamed shell of the fruit from the machine, whilethe'juice extracted is separately conducted from'the machine. Thevarious mechanisms of the machine operate automatically andsynchronously so that allthat is necessary is to place the machine inoperation and commence feeding the fruit thereto, all other operationstaking place automatically as the operation of the machine continues. f

The invention is exemplified in the following reaming mechanisminsection.l

description and illustratedby way of example in i the accompanyingdrawings,lin which:

Fig. 1 is a planview of a machine embodying the preferred form of myinvention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of that machine with parts broken away tomore clearly disclose certainoperating mechanism of the machine.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the side of the machine opposite thatillustrated in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an end elevationof the machine .with

. parts of the frame broken away and shown` removed so as to disclosecertain operating mechanism of the machine.

closing the clutch mechanism for operating said shaft in centralvertical section. y

Fig. 6 is an enlargedview inplan and plansection of the clutchmechanismy for operating the chuck shaft.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged plan view of the chuck mechanism and associateddevices.

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary view in transverse section, showing the mannerof mounting the slicing knife. g

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary view in section showing the manner in which theend of the fruit is sliced and discharged from the machine.

Fig; 11 is a perspective viewvof one of the spiral gripping or chuckmembers.

Referring more particularlyto the accompanying drawings, I have theredisclosed a citrus fruit juicing machine having an open frame structureI0. This frame includes a flat base II and a top I2 supported from thebase by four corner legs I4 which may be welded to the top I2 and baseII or otherwise secured thereto to provide a substantially rigidopenframe structure.

There is mounted on the base II an electric motor I5, the shaft of whichis connected through a belt drive I6 to a speed reduction set I1.Journaled yon thefralne is a cam shaft I8` which is driven. from thespeed reduction set I1 through the medium of a sprocket chain I9 and asprocket gear 20 securedon the shaft I8. Fixed on .this cam shaft I8 aretwo cams, a cam 2I for operating the reaming mechanism of the machineanda cam 22 for operating the chuck mechanism of the machine. f l

The chuck'. mechanism of kthe machine comprises a vertical shaft 23journaled in av bearing 24 carried bythe top I2 ofthe main frame' I0. Atthe lower end of this shaft there is secured thereon a spider 25 whichcarries four individual fruit chucks 26 arranged concentrically aboutthe axis of the shaft 23 atA equal distances apart. These trated. Thisspiral band is xed to the spider 25 as at 28, which point issubstantially vdiametrically opposite the point where the free ends ofthe band overlap. The inherent spring qualities of the band naturallymaintain the chuck expanded,

'but it is obvious that by applying a moving force to one free end ofthe band in awinding direction, that the band will contract. It is thisaction vwhich I relay upon to contract thel chuck and grip a fruit whichhas been deposited therein. l H l 'I'he spider 25 is rotated step bystep so that each chuck successively assumes a position at fourdifferent stations. That is to say, .a fruit receiving station A, afruit cutting station B, a fruit reaming station C, and a dischargestation D, as shown in Fig. '1.

To operate the spider to successively position the chucks as justdescribed, the shaft 23 is providedwith a one-way clutch mechanism 29which consists essentially of a four-toothed clutching. dog 30 adaptedto be engaged by a pawl 3| carried by a clutch ring 32 having a radiallyprojecting crank arm 33. The movement of the crank arm 33 in onedirection will engage the clutch and advance the shaft in the samedirection. Movement of the crank arm in the other direction, of course,will have no effect as far as movement of the shaft 23 is concerned. Aclutch spring 34 is provided which is connected with the clutch ring 32and the frame of the machine, and constantly tends to move the clutchring 33 in a direction releasing the clutch and repositioning it for asecond operation.

To operate the crank arml 33, it is connected by means of a connectingrod 35 to one end of a clutch operating lever 36 pivoted to the frame asat 31. The other end` of this lever is provided with a cam roller 38which is engaged by the cam 22 on the cam shaft I8. This cam is socontoured that it will operate the clutch at intermittent timedintervals to rotate the shaft 23 through an arc of ninety degrees in ananticlockwise direction. It will be noticed that the stations A, B, Cand D are arranged at ninety degrees apart.

To contract and expand each chuck 26 in synchronism with its positioningat the Various stations, I have provided a ring cam 39 fixed to theframe in proper relationship with respect to the axis of the shaft 23,as most clearly illustrated in Fig. 1. To engage this cam, theouter freeend of the band 21 of each chuck 26 is provided with a'cam shoe 40 whichslidably engages the inner surface or contour of the fixed cam 39.

The contour of this cam is such that when the i In the presentvapplication I have intended that the chuck be so tightened aboutthefruit that the latter is distorted to a slightly cylindrical shape.However, this is not necessary to the operation of the machine.- It isonly necessary in the event that it is desired merely to slice olfpletely register with station B, the knife has severed off the lower endof the fruit.

During this period the chuck is maintained fully contracted and soremains until it has been registered with station C, at which point therearning takes place, as will be described. From the station C tostation D the cam commences to permit expansion of the chuck so thatwhen it reaches the station D, the fruit may fully discharge therefrom.Y

Underlying and surrounding the chuck-mechanism is a circular pan 43rigidly carried by the frame. The bottom of this pan supports theplatform 4| and the knife 42, asillustrated. At a point under the knife42, the bottom of the panA is provided with an aperture 44 through whichthe sliced off portion of the fruit may discharge into a hopper 45 whichhas an outlet 46 at one side of the machine. Also registering with thishopper is a discharge opening 41 at station D so that when the fruit isreleased by the chuck, it may discharge through the discharge lopening41 into the hopper and be discharged with the sliced off ends at theoutlet 46 thereof.

In Valignment with the station C, the bottom of the pan 43isprovided'with anopening 50 through which upwardly projects an invertedcup 48. of a diameter slightly larger than the same ls a cylindricaljuice receiving chamber 49. The diameter of the chamber v49-is largerthan the opening 5|). The lower marginal edge of the inverted cup 48 isout-turned and secured to the inner periphery of the chamber 49, asillustrated, forming a joint therebetween which is perforate.

The upper end of the inverted cup 48 is provided with a central opening5| of a diameter just slightly greater than a reamer 52 which operatestherethrough'into the fruit. Surrounding this opening 5| is a circularresilient washer or ring 53 which engages the bottom of the chuck as thelatter advances to station C. Thus, when the fruit is positioned atstation C, a substantially tight'joint is formed between the bottom ofthe chuck andthe washer 53 so that as the fruit is juiced, the juicewill pass downwardly between the flutes in the reamer and discharge intothe fruit juice receiving chamber 49. ,This

receiving chamber 49 has a discharge spout 54 which extends laterallyoutward to direct the juice toa suitable container.

The cylindrical chamber 49 rests upon a coll spring 61 `which in, turnabuts against a collare` 68 on the sleeve 56. When the reamer islowered,.`

v the chamber 49 together with the inverted cup,

the extreme end of the fruit and thereby ream the entire fruit in onereaming opration. In the event that only half a fruit is fed tothemachine, the contraction of the band would be just sufficient to holdvthe fruit during the reaming operation. A, underneath the chuck, thereis a fixed platform 4| which positions the fruit in the chuck as far asvertical position is concerned.

By the time that the chuck is moved from station A to a point where thefruit is out of to reaching complete It will be noticed that at station48 likewise lowers a slight amount so as not to.l interfere with themovement of the chuck pass-2 ing from station C to station D. However,when the chuck has assumed `the position at station D and the reamer iselevated, the inverted cup 48 and the chamber are moved upwardly andyieldingrly pressed against the bottom vof the chuck as illustrated inFig. 8. y

It will be noticed that the shaft 55 of the reamer 52 projectsconcentrically upwardly through the bottom of the juice receivingchamber 49 in a fluid-tight manner. 'I'hat is to say, the shaft 55 isjournaled in a sleeve 56 which is reciprocable through a. bearing 51 inthe bottom of the juice vreceiving chamber 49. The sleeve 56 and theshaft 55 reciprocate in unison, although the shaft 55` revolves in thesleeve 56. The sleeve 56 isfixed atits'lower end in a bearing 56reciprocably mounted on a vertical guide 59 fixed to Formedconcentrically with this cup, but

lthe frame. The shaft 55 is journaled at its lower end in a bearing 60rigidly fixed to the guide 59. The shaft 55 is feathered through acollared pulley 6| which is driven by a belt 62 from the" meter |5. Itis obvious that by imparting 'vertical movement in an upward directionto the sleeve 56, the reamer 52 will likewise be movedaperture 44 intothe hopper 45 for discharge from the machine. Of course, during theadvance of the chuck holding the fruit from station A to station B, thesucceeding chuck will align at station A and receive a fruit.

During the succeeding step of operation, the chuck at station B willadvance to station C in registerwith the reaming mechanism. At thispointthe .cam 2| will operate the fulcrum lever 63 to elevate the reamer52 and projectit into the fruit, during which tirne-thereamer will berevolving to ream the same. Ii preferred, a gage block 52a maybeprovided on the frame to'preates the chuck mechanism, that the reamer israised and lowered during each idle period ofthe chuck mechanism eachtime a.'V chuck is registered with station C. The other end of thefulcrum lever 63 is connected with the sliding bearing 58 which carriesthe sleeve 56, so that when the cam rise commences to engage the roller65,`

that end( of the fulcrum lever is depressed, elevent displacement of thefruit from the chuck, as illustrated in Fig. 8. The reaming takes place,of course, during the rest periodbetween the steps of operation of thechuck mechanism.

Immediately-the fruit is reamed, the reamer 52 is lowered and the chuckmechanism advances another step. During this step the chuck holding thefruit that has'just been reamed commences expanding' so that by the timeit reaches station D, it will have been fully expanded and released theshell of the fruit so that` the latter may disavating the opposite endand thereby elevating charge through the aperture 41 into the hopper45.- The juice, of course, will pass between the flutes of the reamerand into the fruit container z.' the reamer and projecting it into thefruit. The o lever, however, is centrally j ointed,` as illustrated, sothat-.when the resistance of the reamerv to 9 axial movement overcomesthe tension of a .54 thereof'- or chamberl 49 and discharged through thespout A spring 66, which holds the jointed portions of the lever inalignment, the reamer will stop elevating regardlessr of whether or notthe high point of the cam has been reached.

I have also provided a means for delivering fruit to the chucks as theysuccessively'reach .-r

station A, -which mechanism lcomprises a chute 10 down through which thefruit moves by gravity in line formation. A gate `1| is provided which,when operated, allows the foremost fruit to discharge from the `chuteinto the chuck positioned at station A, but restraining the succeedingfruit from discharging from the chute 10.

This gate is operated Aonce during each step of,

the lcycle of operation of the chuck mechanism. It is seen that theshaft 12 of the gate 1| is provided with a crank arm 13. A spring .14 isattached to this crank arm, as illustrated in Fig. 2, and normallymaintains the gate in a position preventing fruit from dischargingfrom'the chute 1li, as illustrated in Fig. 8. This' crank arm islikewise connected by a connecting link 15 to the clutch operating lever36A in such a fashion that each time thev lever 36 is operated toadvance the chucks through one step of their cycle pf operation, thegate 1| is operated to permit pne fruit to discharge from the chute 10into ithe chuck registering with station A.

" In operation of the device, the machine is constructed substantiallyas illustrated and described, and the motor I'5is placed in operation. Afruit is fed to the chute 10 so that the lowermost thereof will positionitself against the gate 1|. As the machine commences to function, the

cam 22 will operate the lever 36 to advance a I may prefer to use. areamer with flexible flutes such as disclosedin my United States LettersPatent No. 2,274,306.

The various unit mechanisms of the machine are, ofcourse, `as previouslydescribed, relatively timed to performtheir respective functions in thedesired sequence, theapparatus as a whole providing an automatic machineeecting a continuous unithandling of the fruit with complete eliminationof vhuman labor and in a manner which will effectively extrude a maximumpercentage of thefdesired fruit juice and a minimum percentage of therind oil, the bitter substances and other undesirable elements presentin the peel and in the seeds and in the carpellary membranes and thevascular elements of the fruit.

It should also be noted'that the present machine will not reazn a hardfrost-bitten fruit. That is to say, the reamer will not penetrate into Asuch a fruit because of the knuckle or hinged with station A. Upon thesecond step of oper- A allow such severed end to discharge through theconstruction of the reamer operating lever 63, as previously described.It may be pointed out here that after the fruit is reamed, the resilientcharacter of the shoe 40 vwill cause the spiral chuck or grippingmembers 21 to slightly contract so as to insure a tight grip on thereamed fruit shell.

I also desire to point out that if desired, the

21 may be lined with a yielding substance, such as sponge rubber.However, this is not necessary to a proper operation of the machine.

While I have herein illustrated and described the preferred form of myinvention, lit is to be understood that various changes may be madetherein by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit ofthe invention as defined in the appended claims.

. Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secureby Letters Patent is:

1. In a machine of the character described, a chuck comprising a spiralband held at one point, the ends of said band being free andoverlapping, and cam means to engage one end of said band -to causecontraction thereof and to control the expansion of the band throughouta predetermined cycle of operation.

2. In a machine of the character described, a. fruit holding chuckcomprising a band of spring material wound substantially in a circle andhaving an inherent tendency to expand, a member to which said band isxed at one point, the ends of said band being unconnected andoverlapping,

and cam means to engage one end of said band Ito cause contraction ofsaid band throughouta predetermined cycle of operation and to controlexpansion thereof.

3. In a machine of the character described, a fruit holding chuckcomprising a flat band of spring metal Wound spirally and having aninherent constant tendency to expand, and cam means engaging one end ofsaid band to cause contraction thereof and to control the expansionthereof by movement of said end in a circumfferential path with relationto the axis of the band.

4. A machine of the character described comprising a revoluble memberoperated throughout a predetermined cycle of operation a fruit holdingchuck carried by said member and comprising a band of spring materialWound substantially in la-.circle and connected to said revolublemember= intermediate its ends, the ends of said band being unconnected,a stationary cam associated with the revoluble member and adapted-tooperatively engage one end of said band to cause contraction of the bandand to control its expansicn in synchronism with the operation of therevoluble member. v

5. A machine of the character described comprising a revoluble memberadapted to be intermittently revolved in one vdirection step by stepthrough a predetermined cycle of operation, a

fruit hol-ding chuck xed to said revoluble member and comprising a Ilatband of spring material Wound spirally about a vertical axis and havingan inherent and constant tendency to expand,

said band being xed to said revoluble member intermediate its ends andhaving its ends unconnected, and a stationary cam associated with saidrevoluble member to engage one end of said band to cause contraction ofthe chuck and to control its expansion in synchronism with theoperationl of the revoluble member.

6. In a machine of the character described, a revoluble member driven tointermittently advance in one direction step by'step, a fruit holdingcontractile chuck carried by said member, said chuck comprising a flatband of material Wound in substantially circular fashion and normallyexpanded to a diameter suicient that it may receive a fruit, said bandbeing connected to the revoluble member at a point intermediate itsends, and cam means associated with said band to operate the same as`the revoluble member operates through its cycle to cause contraction-of the chuck and to control its expansion insynchronism with theoperation of the revoluble member.

7. A machine of the character described comprising a revoluble memberadapted to be driven intermittently throughout a predetermined cycleoioperation, a plurality of chucks carried by said revoluble member atequal distances about its axis, each. chuck comprising a hat band ofspring material woundspirallyvabout a vertical axisand having aninherent constant tendency to expand, each band being fixed tol saidrevoluble member at a point intermediate its ends and normally expandedto a diameter enabling it to receive a fruit, the ends of each band`being unconnected, a circular stationary cam being arranged about theaxis ofthe revoluble member and constantly engaging all of the chucksand adapted to cause contraction thereof and to control the expansionthereof in synchronism with the operation of the revoluble member.

RALSTON R. SMITH.

